David Lewis
MOORAK trainer Jason Newman landed his first feature race win at last Sunday’s Tara Raceway meeting when kennelmates Strike Eagle and Super Cobra fought out the finish of the Sims Family Memorial Maiden (512 metres).
Super Cobra quickly found the front from box four and off the back he looked to be travelling like a winner.
But his brother, Strike Eagle, after finding himself well back mid-race, stormed home to score by a neck in 30.69 seconds.
A further head away in third spot was Marie’s Angel who, after finding trouble rounding the first bend, turned in a big run for Yambuk trainer Tom Sinnott.
The winner and runner-up are by Keybow out of Velocity Lilly who is a litter sister to Jury, a multiple Group-winner who is now standing at stud with Ben Weidenbach, breeder and owner of Strike Eagle and Super Cobra.
According to Newman, it was by pure chance that he actually came to be training the two November 2019 black dogs.
“I already had three of the litter in the kennels – Velocity Connie, Locked and Flying Fuels – so in passing when Ben mentioned he had a couple more on his property that were doing nothing I was sort of interested but had no kennel space,” he said.
“Strike Eagle had raced on a couple of occasions in the middle of last year before being returned to his owner.
“Super Cobra, on the other hand, hadn’t raced after failing to measure up at the pre-training stage.
“In the end I suggested to Ben that as I had a couple of injured dogs if he was interested in looking after them for a while I would have a go at getting his pair onto the track – with the Sims Maiden in mind.
“He agreed to that and as the weeks went by they just kept getting better, to the extent that by the time the race came around I thought they would be in it right up to their ears.”
This year’s extended-family support for the Sims Memorial was at an all-time high. And spokesperson Lorraine Webber once again pledged continued support for the time-honoured event.
Over from Casterton for last Sunday’s meeting was Helen Gorman, primarily to catch up with young Mornington hobby trainer Campbell Rawiller who was at Tara Raceway for the first time.
These days, Gorman keeps up with the local greyhound racing happenings through The Border Watch.
But there was a time when she was basking in Group 1 glory at Melbourne’s Olympic Park through the deeds of a fawn bitch called China Trip.
Gorman’s involvement in greyhound racing came about through a friend who owned a bitch called La Paz and invited her to become involved in the breeding of a litter with her.
“We mated her with Brother Fox and decided to keep three pups, one of those being China Trip,” Gorman said.
“She was quite timid, which was a bit of a concern, but she ultimately won at her first start by 13 lengths at Albury in May 1991.”
By the end of February the following year China Trip was contesting the final of the Group 1 Australian Cup (511 metres) in which she defeated Buka Blitz by a head.
However, a few months later she broke a hock when racing at the Gold Coast and was off the track for six months.
But by the time the 1993 Australian Cup came around, China Trip had won four races from as many starts after the long layoff.
Gorman’s defending champion became the first to win two Australian Cups when holding out the SA champion True To Do and winning by a head.
“I still remember watching the race from behind the boxes and thinking that True To Do had grabbed her on the line. It was so surreal and felt like a dream,” she said.
There was no Group 1 racing on offer at the Mount Gambier track yesterday but one could be excused for thinking that Gorman had been reliving those Australian Cup experiences all over again as she cheered on Rawiller’s greyhound Forcefully in the last race.
In the end the son of Barcia Bale and Blue Benzol went down by 1¾ lengths when finishing second.
“He ran super,” the well-presented Rawiller declared.
Winner of the 400 metre event was Tony Hinrichsen’s rising six-year-old Filthy Phantom who took his Australian record to 267 race starts when bringing up his third successive win in a best of day 23.26 seconds.
